Happy Saturday friends! The sun is shining, the birds are
cold and for the first time in a long time, the heat has no need to be on in
the car (and yes, I am typing this as we make our way to Mankato).Some mornings, I wake up and breathe in the
feelings of happiness and today is no different. With this being said, I am
thrilled to be able to review for you today Assured Destruction by Michael F.Stewart.

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Jan Rose knows that nothing is ever truly
deleted. At least, not from the hard drives she scours to create the online
identities she calls the Shadownet.

Hobby? Art form? Sad,
pathetic plea to garner friendship, even virtually? Sure, Jan is guilty on all
counts. Maybe she’s even addicted to it. It’s an exploration. Everyone has
something to hide. The Shadownet’s hard drives are Jan’s secrets. They're stolen
from her family’s computer recycling business Assured Destruction. If the
police found out, Jan’s family would lose their livelihood.

When the real people behind Shadownet’s hard drives endure
vicious cyber attacks, Jan realizes she is responsible. She doesn’t know who is
targeting these people or why but as her life collapses Jan must use all her
tech savvy to bring the perpetrators to justice before she becomes the next
victim.

Review:

First of all, I must start with how cleverly titled this
book was. Assured Destruction could be the main theme of the book and it held
steady throughout. Not only was it the name of the business where most of the
plot took place, it could also be the theme of Jans’s life. Before I get too
deep into the review, let me introduce you to Jan: She is a teenager struggling
to make friends and make it through high school days while jugglinga job, boys, a sick mother, and social media.
In short, a lot of people can relate to Jan. I think this will hit home with
the YA group that the book is aimed towards and this makes the book an instant
hit. While most teens don’t create alias’ from their friends hard drives and
create a network in their basement (aka the ShadowNet), a lot of teens can
relate to staying connected by social media.

When Jan is hacked and her life takes a turn for the worst,
it is up to her and only her to get her life on the right track as friends now
look at her as the enemy, her mom (and her new boyfriend) starts to distrust
her and the police are on her tale for crimes that she didn’t commit. This is
where Jan relies solely on herself taught ways as she tracks down the person
who hacked her. Little did she know that she would uncover her own ‘assured destruction’ and stop the demolition that was sure to happen.

In all, this was a clever book and a fast read. I think it
is a perfect read for today’s YA group and shows them that there can be
downfalls to this thing that we call social media. This is a techy read with a
cliffhanger ending.

After crewing ships in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea and
some fun in venture capital, Michael anchored himself (happily) to a marriage
and a boatload of kids. Now he injects his adventurous spirit into his writing
with brief respites for research into the jungles of Sumatra and Guatemala, the
ruins of Egypt and Tik’al, paddling the Zambezi and diving whatever cave or
ocean reef will have him. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers
and SF Canada, and the author of the Assured Destruction series, 24 Bones, The
Sand Dragon, Hurakan, Ruination and several award winning graphic novels for
young adults.